


Some Kind of Tension

by TooOceanBlue



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, Mutual Pining, Pre-Relationship, Repressed Feelings, thats about it lads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 08:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20485793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooOceanBlue/pseuds/TooOceanBlue
Summary: Stressful.This was not the first word the survivors of the two-sunned world would use to describe their mission. Important, they would say first. Long. Amazing. Discouraging. Then maybe, stressful, a little further down the list. But it was.





	Some Kind of Tension

**Author's Note:**

> Not as horny as it sounds I promise.

_ Stressful _ .

This was not the first word the survivors of the two-sunned world would use to describe their mission. Important, they would say first.  _ Long.  _ Amazing. Discouraging. Then maybe, stressful, a little further down the list. But it was.

Their bodies did not change. Barry was sure he would have lost all his hair by now, aging or not, if their mission had the time to take any permanent toll on his body. His blood pressure would be through the roof, his muscles turned to stone. Merle had turned to stone once, cycles ago when he fucked with an amulet Taako told him not to touch. But at the end of the year he was back on the ship, as fleshy as ever, and Barry’s blood pressure was back to 120. 

That didn’t mean there couldn’t be a little buildup between cycles. This cycle was harsh, a limited population and frightening storms leaving the starblaster mostly grounded and its crew mostly inside. Merle has taken to leaving some of his favorite plants in the common room so they could soak up the limited sunlight available. Needless to say, that wasn’t good for anyone’s blood pressure.

Still, they had managed to find the light, something Barry was overwhelmingly grateful for. It meant they had saved the few people of this plane, had saved the plane itself.

However it also meant long hours down in the lab, studying the damn thing. What it could do, what it was made of, what school of magic did it show the most capabilities towards, and under what conditions and when used by whom, and how could  _ they _ use that to their advantage? You’d think after nearly four decades they’d have more figured out. 

Instead they spend days in the lab making inches of progress, Lup only leaving to prepare meals, Barry only leaving when Lup drags him out to eat them. It’s important, yes. Amazing, Fascinating, just- stressful. It’s stressful.

Lup stretches up from her labwork and flinches, a small sound escaping her as she raises a hand to rub at her shoulder. 

“Are you okay?”

Lup hums, leaning back in her chair, hand still working her shoulder. “‘M fine. Posture just sucks.”

Barry’s never met anyone with posture like her's. It’s like she’s a willow tree, sitting straight and elegant, arms moving with ease. “You’re uh- your posture's great.” He points out the obvious.

Lup shoots him a playful smile, though there’s a weight there too. It’s familiar in a homey way, a way reserved for recreational time or for nights like these, when tiredness has shifted them away from their work. “Okay, yeah, that’s bullshit. Gotta have an excuse for this knot in my shoulder though.”

Barry sits back as well, eyeing her sympathetically. “You’ve been working hard.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“I’ve got back problems anyway. Old man bones and all that.”

Lup smiles with mirth. “Could have Magnus help you out with that. I think I have a few ‘free backrub’ coupons left if you’ve used yours up.” Lup lets Barry’s laugh answer the question. Magnus was well intentioned but- well, there were some lines she wouldn't want crossed either. At least not by Magnus. “That doesn’t sound so bad though.”

“What, a- a Magnus backrub?” Barry questions.

“Oh god no, not from Magnus. He’d probably break my spine.”

Lup shifts in her chair, turning so her back was partially to him. “I wouldn’t mind if you just got this knot though. Shouldn’t take too long.” The suggestion leaves her nerves on end. If she lets herself get worked up over it maybe it  _ would _ take a while for her muscles to relax. She could attribute that to stress though, if Barry questioned it at all.

“Oh. Um-”

“You don’t have to-”

“No, um. I got it.” He will not talk himself out of helping Lup. If he had a knot in his shoulder he’d want someone to help. Well, he’d want  _ Lup _ to help but- he will not let his thoughts wander down that path.

Barry stands, and takes the single step it takes to close the distance between them. The lab isn’t as small as it could be, but the dozens of arcane and scientific experiments they keep running from plane to plane leave actual work room limited. They have practice in close quarters, with the crew, with each other. Barry finds himself wishing he had just a few extra steps to calm his nerves. 

Lup takes a quarter-turn in her chair so her back is fully facing him, pulling her hair out of the way. Barry takes a quiet breath, and places his hands on Lup’s shoulders.

He can feel the knot in her right shoulder immediately, the one that had caused her to wince earlier. Her left shoulder isn’t much better off, and he imagines if he moves his hands inwards they’ll be tension in her neck as well. He starts to rub, familiarizing himself with her muscles before he can work out the tension there. 

Lup is wearing a tank top. It makes it harder for him, maybe, but he can see her muscles shift as he moves over them, sees them flinch and tense when he hits certain spots and relax when he works into them more. He focuses on the areas around her neck first, wanting the rest of her to be relaxed before he tackles her shoulder. Slowly, he circles towards it.

Lup tenses when he first touches the knot. She holds her breath and holds still as he works into it. Barry does the same. He doesn’t want to hurt her, but he doesn’t know how else to get rid of her discomfort.

Slowly, surely, Barry starts to loosen the knot. Lup lets out a long groan as he does. The sound is heady and pleased, and Barry has to stop himself from gripping too tightly. He feels himself heat up, and  _ dammit he is not going to make this weird _ . He rubs into her muscles more, focusing his energy on working through the tension there. He tries to keep his mind from her bare skin under his hands.

Lup tries very hard to do the same. Barry is doing  _ wonderfully,  _ and- well, he’s Barry. His hands are strong and patient and it makes her nearly melt. Minutes pass, and Lup enjoys Barry’s careful hands working over her.

In truth the knot had been mostly worked through for some time, as good as it would get with the weight of the world on their backs. But Lup was enjoying this. She doesn’t get many moments like these, that she can twist in her brain to be something better. Moments she can replay later and read too much into. But she had asked him for this- it doesn’t mean anything.

After some time Barry’s hands come to rest on her shoulders. She almost wants to ask him to keep going, to work over her spine and her lower back and maybe-

She won’t make this weird. He’s already indulged her enough.

As Barry’s motions slow, Lup sighs. Somehow, that warms him even more than her previous sound. If he could hear that breath a thousand times, content and comfortable. Safe from the Hunger, relieved of her stress... Barry pulls his hands away.

There’s a moment where neither of them speak. A moment where it almost seems Lup will turn around and take Barry’s hand, that Barry will touch Lup’s face and turn her to face him. It is almost a moment when they tell each other something they can’t say, softened by the tiredness of the night. Then Barry speaks.

“Uh- is that okay?”

Lup turns towards Barry, stretching her arms forward and rolling her shoulders. “That was so good Barry. Thank you. I think I might actually be able to sleep tonight.”

“That’s- That’s good. Let me know if it- um.” He gestured uselessly. “You know, if it flares up again.”

Lup smiles. “Sure thing Barry.” She stands to face the light of creation. “What do you think? Time to lock this bad boy up and catch some zzzs?”

Barry nods, eyeing the Dancing Lights they cast to keep the lab lit. They were already on their third cast since dinner. It was late. “Sounds good.”

Their pack up is methodic and timely. Barry can't decide if he wants to escape as quickly as possible or if he wishes the routine took longer, if he could squeeze just a few more minutes with Lup out of the night. But his first wish is granted, and they make their way to their quarters soon enough, with quiet waves to say goodnight without waking the rest of the crew.

Barry falls into his bed like he's been holding his breath for hours, trying very hard not to wish that Lup was still with him. He feels content that Lup feels better because of him, that they could share something, but unfulfilled. He turns his head to bury it in the pillow, feeling his own shoulders ache as he does so.

He will not dwell on this. He knows if he does that he'll spin it out of proportion, that he'll see things that aren't there, motivations and  _ feelings  _ that aren't there, and he won't do that to Lup. It wouldn't be fair to her. She has opened up to him so much through the years-  _ decades.  _ To the point where she was comfortable asking him for things she didn't want of Magnus, or her brother- he refuses to read into it. 

Lup relaxes into bed better than she has in weeks. Barry really had done a good job from a practical standpoint, though she's sure the simple pleasure of him touching her played a role in it as well. Her muscles feel soft and loose.

Lup replays the moments in her head. She thinks of how quickly he agreed to her proposition, how careful he was going about it. It makes her want to rush to his room before he falls asleep and ask him for something else, anything else, if there's even a chance he might give it to her. But she won't use him like that. Not when their movements hold such a different weight for her than they do for him. It wouldn't be fair.

Still, Lup knows back pain is a universal issue. She thinks she might offer tomorrow- if the moment is right- and he's always shifting in the lab, rubbing at his neck and cracking his spine as he sits up, she'll have an opening to offer, she doesn't know why she hasn't before- just to return the favor.

It's a good plan, she thinks as she settles into her meditation. If she can help Barry with the stress, help him feel as good as he made her feel. If the thought of getting her hands on him in any capacity left butterflies in her stomach- well it didn't have to mean anything. It never does.

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to feature Magnus bursting in and feeling Very Betrayed that no one was using his free backrub coupons. In fact the whole concept arose from the disproportionate delight I got from the idea. Oh well.


End file.
